Silky, drinkable sheets of rice intertwined with chewy bits of dried shrimp, sweet seafood, accented with the brilliance of fresh, fragrant spring onions. Topped with a light sweet and savory sauce that accents everything. Have I already tried this successfully, dear readers?
This truly delicious treat is Cheung Fun with Dried Shrimp and Spring Onions 葱花蝦米腸粉. This is one of the classic Cantonese versions of steamed cheung fun 腸粉, delicate rice sheets wrapped around various delicious fillings, normally served in dim sum restaurants. This might be my favorite entertainment, to be honest. So simple and yet so damn wonderful.
The filling ingredients couldn’t be more humble or simpler in many ways. The first is fresh spring onions, chopped to release their slightly pungent aromas, the perfect counterpart to any meat. Did you know that if you buy vegetables at the wet markets in Hong Kong you can ask them to add a couple of sprigs of spring onion in the house?
The only other filling ingredient is dried and preserved shrimp, known in Chinese as 蝦米 or 海米. These Chinese pantry essentials are packed with the intense marine sweetness of shrimp flavor, deeply locked in by sun drying. These also have the perfect chewy texture. Look for them in stores that sell Chinese dried products and, of course, in Chinese supermarkets.
The key to cheung fun is the batter. This batter will determine the mouthfeel of the cheung fun, a very important point! Will it be thin, silky, slightly chewy, deliciously drinkable and yet able to hold the filling well? It all starts with the batter!
The batter is simply all mixed together with the addition of a little salt and oil. Keep in mind that the starches in the batter will settle to the bottom quite quickly and will need to be stirred every time you want to use the batter.
Preparing for cheung fun at home can be a little tricky. You will need a flat, shallow metal tray and a pot large enough to steam that tray. We prepared our wok, which is large and wide, and a trivet for steaming (see photo above). This metal trivet will hold your steamer tray above boiling water while it cooks.
See how to place the tray on top of the trivet? Configuration complete! Allow the pan to preheat and then use a brush to oil it well.
We recommend using less batter rather than more, so you can get the thin, silky, transparent sheets that are the hallmark of good chewing fun. Since each tray is different, you will need to adjust the amount used to fit your tray. But it should look more or less like the photo above, half covering the tray.
Then use a brush to brush the batter to fill the pan. As the water boils under the pan, the batter will begin to cook a bit, making it possible for it to stick and spread across the pan. You can also tilt the pan slightly to help the dough move and spread.
The dough filled the pan!
It’s time to add the ingredients. Just sprinkle on the spring onions and dried shrimp. If you prefer, you can coarsely chop the dried shrimp. Once sprinkled, close the lid and let it steam until cooked.
I found that the best temperature for steaming was high. When we steamed over medium heat, the cheung fun ended up having soggy corners. ☹️
Getting your entertainment out of the tray is the next task. Grease a bread scraper, if you have one (they are so helpful!) or a thin-edged spatula. Start at one edge and lift and fold until you reach the other side.
As you can see in the photo above, we used as little batter as we could get away with to get a very thin sheet of rice. But that meant the folds weren’t as neat, more bunched together. And it also meant super silky, drinkable chewing fun!
If you want a firmer, more well-folded cheung, simply increase the amount of batter used and add steaming time.
We’ve made it to the other side! We cut the Cheung Fun in half and then put it on serving plates.
Cheung Fun is traditionally served with a sweetened, watered-down soy-based sauce. We usually cheat and simply pour a little from our bottle of store-bought sweetened soy sauce and cut it with an equal amount of water. Perfectly easy! But if you want to make your own fun sauce, we’ve included a simple recipe below.
Okay then, dear readers. Enjoy some fun, slurp-ilicious love!
Fun Dried Shrimp Spring Onion Cheung
Rice rolls with chopped green onion and dried prawns
Ingredients:
Rice rolls
- 10″ x 7″ shallow metal tray.
- 1/4 cup rice flour, 40 g
- 2 and 1/2 tablespoons of potato starch, 30 g
- 1 and 1/4 tablespoons tapioca starch, 10 g
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups water, 300 ml
- 1 teaspoon of oil
- 1/2 cup dried shrimp 蝦米, coarsely chopped or whole
- 1/2 cup spring onion, sliced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons oil for brushing the tray and scraper
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons of water
Prepare the sauce: Add the soy sauce, sugar and water to a saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool.
Make fun batter: add rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and salt to a bowl. Whip. Add water and mix. Finally add the oil and mix.
Prepare the steamer: Add the trivet to a pot large enough to fit the steaming tray. Add the tray on top of the trivet and then add the water. Heat until boiling, then reduce heat and simmer. Add 1/2 teaspoon oil to the pan and brush to coat the griddle and sides.
Note: Each cheung fun should have a clean, dry tray that is preheated in the steamer before adding oil.
Steam fun: Mix the mixture thoroughly. You will have to do this every time as the starch settles to the bottom quite quickly. Add 3-4 tablespoons of batter to the oiled pan. (3 tablespoons = thinner, 4 tablespoons = thicker) Use a brush to brush the batter until the pan is completely covered. Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon dried shrimp and then 1/2 tablespoon green onion evenly over the cheung fun.
Add the lid and cook over high heat for 5-7 minutes for 3 tablespoons of batter and 8-10 minutes for 4 tablespoons of batter. Check if it’s ready by testing it with a light tap with a chopstick. If the drumstick passes, let it cook for another minute.
Bend the fun: When finished, remove the tray from the heat. Starting from one edge use a well-oiled scraper (I used a bread scraper) and gently scrape, lift and fold until you reach the other side. Cut in half and lift onto serving plate. Pour some sauce over and around. Ready to drink! Enjoy!
Dim Sum Delights at Hong Kong Cuisine:
